DIY Samsung LM561C build

Oneshark

Well-Known Member
I would just like to share my DIY fixture with you guys as a way of giving back to this community as I have been a long time lurker here.

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I'm currently on my first grow with my DIY cheap Chinese cob plus monos fixture. Planning to upgrade to 4*CLU048-1212 for my cab as I want it to be a cheap build. Then the Quantum Boards craze hit with results to back it up. But then it's always out of stock so I thought maybe I could do it myself.

(Also thank you to the HLG for bringing these diodes from the shadows, no one on their right mind would go from "high" power cobs down to these "mids", but you guys did all the hard work with your research proving that it's the bomb. So thank you!)

I was thinking if maybe I could source some Samsung LM561C diodes on a flexible LED strips the ones being used on mood lighting, maybe I could build one specifically for my cab. Then I searched and I did really found a supplier. Also saw The LED Gardeners blog and that's he's also going to DIY these QB's but with rigid led strips so that made me more excited for my upcoming project since it's really doable.

So my plan was to build a fixture with evenly spaced diodes compared to the QB's so that the light intensity would be spread out and that I could lower it further to the canopy. Then the Fluence SPYDRx form factor hit me. So that's what I built, a mini SPYDR measuring 21"x 28" for my 24"x30" cab.

I ordered 5 meters of 3000k and 5 meters of 3500k flexible LED strips with a Samsung LM561C 24V 80CRI S6 bin diodes. 60diodes/meter for a total of 600 diodes powered by 1 HLG-185-24A.
This strips has adhesive 3M tape at the back.

I bought 10 pieces of 0.5 meters in length of 1 inch square aluminum bar, glued and riveted them to a 4 inch wide aluminum C channel. Drilled some holes for the wiring, slapped two 0.5 meter strips for every bar and did hours of soldering.

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Reason for the mixing of spectrum was that on the spec sheets of the LM561C, combining these two would be the nearest to the PhysioSpec spectrum of Fluence minus the deep reds which they do have a separate diodes for those. Also 24V strips over 12V to lower the amperage and that it's less prone to voltage drop. As these LED strips voltage' drops after 5 meters. So I wired mine on parallel every 2.5 meters.

Currently I'm running them on full for testing and the bars are warm to touch and that's it's really bright.

Total Cost:
1*3000k 5m strip - $25.95
1*3500k 5m strip - $25.95
1* HLG-185-24A - $39.00
DHL Shipping - $30.31
TOTAL: 121.21

Plus another more or less $20 for the frame and wires.

GRAND TOTAL: $140 for a mini SPYDR with 600 LM561c diodes for 185 watts.
 

Rocket Soul

Well-Known Member
Seems like quite a few people are fetting these Samsung S6 bin diodes from various alibubbahz sources nowadays: just out of curiosity, how do you know they are real? Cause both the quantum boards and chilled people had delays/problems getting them a few months back. Is there a way apart from just trusting? Or is there a samsung Jerrykingbrite out there that can be trusted? Not wanting to doubt just wanna know how you verify the s6 bin
 

Oneshark

Well-Known Member
Seems like quite a few people are fetting these Samsung S6 bin diodes from various alibubbahz sources nowadays: just out of curiosity, how do you know they are real? Cause both the quantum boards and chilled people had delays/problems getting them a few months back. Is there a way apart from just trusting? Or is there a samsung Jerrykingbrite out there that can be trusted? Not wanting to doubt just wanna know how you verify the s6 bin
These Alibaba Sellers have these Golden Membership badge with a number indicating their years of membership. And there's only two seller for these Samsung diodes, one 5 years Gold, mine 7 years. And being Gold means that the factories were physically verified by Alibaba on site. Their profile also shows their transaction history amounting to $0,000,000s/year if that matters. Aside from these, they do offer Epistar and other cheap leds so they do have a selection depending on your specification of order. And lastly, this seller is certified by Samsung. With certification documents matching their business details and addresses. If that can be faked, then I can never tell. But they're bright, really bright so that'll do for me.

And one more thing, these stores sells by the bulk. Like 100-500 meters minimum when you order. So these are labelled as sample so that you can check the quality before ordering more. So I guess they'll send you the best to hopefully get a return customer.
 

Oneshark

Well-Known Member
I'm sourcing mine from Digikey, But they aren't 561's. I'm using LM282b. I only buy from vendors that are verified known good sources anyways. Just my 2 cents.
Are you going for rigid strips? I went with these so that I can cut at specific lengths for my cab. Mine was verified by Alibaba only, and certified by Samsung. That I don't know if it's true. But i already gave it a go so... Haha Goodluck with your build!
 

Jellypowered

Well-Known Member
As i'm doing a PCB based build, I guess rigid lol. I'll be getting individual diodes >.< Not looking forward to soldering 84 leds on a board, even though i'm using solder paste and a reflow oven it's still a pain in the ass to hand place them.

LED Board Fritzing.png
Still tweaking my design so this isn't the final version. 6" x 4"
 

Oneshark

Well-Known Member
Very nice.

Do you know how much energy you loose to these resistors?
I have really no idea, but stumbled upon a voltage drop calculator during my research and that at the end of my 2.5 strip, I lose 0.2v but the Mean Well drives them perfectly. Also the lower the AWG wire no., the smaller the V drop. I used AWG 18.
 

Oneshark

Well-Known Member
That's cool! Sadly I have no access to etching PCBs atm. How big would the panel be? And yes, that would be a pain to meticulously position individually. Main reason went with the strips.

Edit: oh it's 6"x4" mislooked
 

Jellypowered

Well-Known Member
I think i'm gonna order my boards through DirtyPCBs as their price for 10 is less than what I could DIY for etchant/time/materials.

For 73$ I get 10 boards ready to populate. thats 7.30 a board shipping included. I can't complain.

As I mentioned, it's 6" x 4" (small but powerful, 80w per board)
 
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